


How About You Toss the Lightning Rod and Get In?

by PadawanRyan



Category: Bandom, Fall Out Boy, My Chemical Romance
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Break Up, First Meetings, Gratuitous Mentions of Chris Pine, Hopeful Ending, M/M, Meet-Cute, based on a tweet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-16
Updated: 2021-03-16
Packaged: 2021-03-24 18:34:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,974
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30076575
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PadawanRyan/pseuds/PadawanRyan
Summary: Sure, sometimes Pete wanted something more out of his life, but he had a good job. He had good friends. He had a friendly barista who threw in a free muffin with his order every Friday because Pete was his favourite regular.And, he thought as he exited the shop with his tray of two coffees and his phone began to vibrate in his pocket, he had a perfect boyfriend.What more could he ask for from the universe?
Relationships: Patrick Stump/Pete Wentz, Very Brief Mikey Way/Pete Wentz
Comments: 9
Kudos: 19





	How About You Toss the Lightning Rod and Get In?

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, I have a couple unfinished oneshots on the go - I've probably abandoned them at this point, even though I do love the ideas of them - and a few more that I've been thinking about but haven't even started writing yet (and I'm not sure I even will). However, the moment this idea popped into my head, I knew I couldn't resist writing it. Actually, the idea came to me hours ago and I thought, "It's almost midnight, it's too late to write this. If I still want to, then I can do it tomorrow."
> 
> And now it's just about 3:45am and I just finished and here we go. I think I should warn people that this fic _begins_ as a Petekey, but it's definitely Peterick endgame. And yes, I managed to cram that all into a short, 2K oneshot.
> 
> Inspired by [this particular tweet of Patrick's](https://i.imgur.com/xyE8S1A.jpg) because I thought that would be a great meet-cute concept.

Pete’s morning began like usual.

He woke to his alarm and hit the snooze button for an extra five minutes before finally dragging himself to the shower for another fifteen. Add in another ten for him to get dressed and then _redressed_ when he decided he didn’t like outfit number one, and only a half hour after his alarm, he was out the door and ready to take on the rest of the day.

It was a little chilly outside, which was pretty typical for this time of year. He couldn’t help but marvel at the changing colours of the leaves as he shoved his hands into the pockets of his jacket and made his way in the direction of his favourite coffee shop.

The line was filled with the usual suspects, picking up their coffees on the way to work.

When he reached the front, he didn’t even have to open his mouth. Brendon grabbed two cups and immediately began to make Pete’s coffees.

Some people would probably hate the idea of doing the same thing day after day after day. Where was the excitement in that? Once upon a time, Pete had even been that person. Young Pete would probably scoff at what thirty-five year old Pete had become – the boring adult with a desk job and a _routine_ – but he was happy. Sure, sometimes Pete wanted something _more_ out of his life, but he had a good job. He had good friends. He had a friendly barista who threw in a free muffin with his order every Friday because Pete was his favourite regular.

And, he thought as he exited the shop with his tray of two coffees and his phone began to vibrate in his pocket, he had a perfect boyfriend.

What more could he ask for from the universe?

He fumbled in his pocket a moment before he managed to withdraw his phone. Seeing Mikey’s name on the screen, Pete immediately answered the call and pressed the device to his ear. “Hey babe, I’m on my way. I just got our coffees and—”

_“Pete? We need to talk.”_

“Now?” Pete was confused. He was going to see Mikey in only about ten more minutes. “Can it wait? I’ll be there in ten minutes at most.”

_“No,”_ came the response on the other end. _“I have to do this now because I won’t once I see you.”_

That didn’t sound good. “Babe? Are you okay?” Pete was very confused and the fact that Mikey sounded so confident on the other end made him feel uneasy. It wasn’t that he didn’t like his boyfriend feeling confident, but Pete knew that voice: that was Mikey’s business voice. It was the voice that he often heard Mikey use in meetings at work when he was bearing bad news, and the fact that he was using it on Pete meant…

His, _“Pete, it’s over,”_ came so abruptly that Pete stopped and almost crashed right into the person walking opposite him on the sidewalk.

“What?”

_“I need you to stay away from my office when you get here. We can talk about it another time, okay? It’s not about you—actually, it kind of is, but it’s also about me and I just can’t do this anymore. Do you understand?”_

Pete’s mouth was dry. How do you even respond to your boyfriend breaking up with you _on your way to work?_ Where they _also work?_

“I—”

He wasn’t even sure what to say.

_“You can go back home if you want,”_ Mikey offered him. _“I’m sure Gabe will understand.”_

That was the last straw for Pete. He wasn’t sure why that was the breaking point – why Mikey being direct and forceful with _ending their relationship_ wasn’t even as bad as the man trying to be _compassionate_ about what he was doing to Pete – but that was the moment when the feeling pooling in his stomach immediately switched gears.

He wasn’t sad anymore—well, he was, but he could wallow in his sadness later. No, he was angry.

Very angry.

Angry enough to bite out, “You know what? Fuck you,” before abruptly ending the call and shoving his phone back into his pocket. His day had started out so good and then _fucking Mikey_ had to ruin everything for him.

Pete hadn’t even been awake for an hour yet and already he had been dumped.

Standing there on the sidewalk, people shuffling around them on their own morning commutes to work or school or wherever else they were going, it occurred to Pete that he wasn’t sure what he even wanted to do. On one hand, he didn’t want to give Mikey the satisfaction of fucking up his day. However, he didn’t want to show up awkwardly and have everyone looking at him, for everyone to _know_ what had happened.

He looked down awkwardly at the two coffees. Pete needed to get rid of the second beverage because as long as it sat in the tray, Mikey was still with him.

His first instinct was to throw the coffee in the nearest garbage, but that seemed like such a waste of money.

But what—

Before he could even finish asking himself the question inside his head, fate stepped in and answered it for him. He hadn’t even noticed he had started walking again, which is probably why he wasn’t looking at where he was going and crashed into the man walking opposite him. The man let out a loud, irritated expletive as the cup of coffee exploded all over him and the half-empty cup fell to the ground.

“I’m so sorry!” Pete exclaimed, pulling the scarf from around his neck with his free hand and using it to dry (and failing quite spectacularly) the other man off. “That was my fault, I wasn’t watching where I was going—"

“It’s okay,” came the response, and Pete finally looked up to respond when his breath caught in his throat.

Oh no, the man was _gorgeous_.

“I can’t see worth shit sometimes,” the shorter man explained, pushing his black-rimmed glasses back up his nose. “And honestly, this isn’t even the first time this has happened to me _this week_ , let alone this month. I swear, I’m a magnet for bad luck, like Chris Pine in that Lindsay Lohan movie.”

“So, if I kiss you then I’ll be your saviour?” Pete asked before his brain caught up to him.

The man looked up. “You’ve seen _Just My Luck_?”

Pete laughed. “Dude, it’s Chris Pine. And those glasses? God, what I wouldn’t give to get a night with him…” he trailed off, suddenly realizing that he was _still_ padding the other man’s coat with his now damp scarf. His next thought was that Mikey had only broken up with him like, three minutes ago and he was _already_ flirting with some random guy on the street? No wonder Mikey was done with him—Pete clearly couldn’t even wallow properly. What else might he have been doing wrong this whole time?

He didn’t have time to continue that thought as the shorter man was speaking again. “I’d love to get into a whole ‘me first’ thing with you, but I really have to get to work. The shop won’t open itself,” the man explained, gesturing awkwardly with his hand.

Pete nodded. “Yeah, okay. Sorry again about the coffee,” he said, but the man waved him off with a smile. “Don’t worry about it.”

It had been another thirty seconds of standing there aimlessly before a thought came to Pete.

He turned and noticed that the man hadn’t gotten too far down the sidewalk, so he called out, “Wait! Chris Pine guy!” as he sprinted after him.

To his relief, the man stopped. “Actually, it’s Patrick.”

“Patrick.”

The name sounded warm in Pete’s mouth. _Right_. “Hi Patrick, I’m Pete.” He smiled as he introduced himself, “And I want to make up for destroying your coffee with my carelessness, so,” he grabbed the second coffee from the tray and held it out to the man, “here. It was supposed to be for my boyfriend but he literally broke up with me like, five minutes ago, so I hope you like pumpkin spice—”

“Not really,” Patrick said, and Pete’s face immediately dropped. Apparently this was a mistake.

But then—

Patrick smiled at him. “But I’ll drink it anyway because I appreciate it, and because your taste in men obviously sucks, Chris Pine aside.”

Pete was probably smiling larger than he had any right to, especially after such an abrupt breakup that was still _literally like seven minutes ago_ , but he couldn’t help it. There was something about Patrick that made him feel all warm and bubbly, and Pete just wanted to spend the entire day standing there on the sidewalk with him.

Except, “I really do have to get to work,” Patrick reminded him.

“Oh, right,” Pete responded. “Yeah, sorry I keep holding you up. You’ve got somewhere to be, I have…well, I don’t exactly know what I’m doing, but you are not obligated to deal with me any longer, no sir, sorry again about—”

And oh, Patrick’s laugh was so infectious as he informed Pete, “But you can call me later, if you want?”

His first thought is that it should be too soon.

He and Mikey _just_ broke up.

But his second thought was that maybe he was right before—maybe this was fate. Maybe this was all part of some cosmic plan and something out there was just getting Mikey out of the way first before pushing him toward Patrick. Pete knew that he was still going to mourn his relationship – he wasn’t going into work, he was going to turn around and go right home and pull out the carton of ice cream collecting frost in the back of his freezer – but perhaps this was the universe’s way of giving him that _something more_ he wanted out of his life.

So, he grinned and said, “Sure.” He pulled out his phone and passed it to Patrick. As soon as Pete heard the vibration in the other man’s pocket, he knew that Patrick had sent himself a text. The shorter man confirmed it when he said, “Now you have my number and I have yours.”

“Great! I’ll call you later and maybe we can talk some more about Chris Pine’s best features?”

“Chest, definitely,” Patrick said with confidence.

“Definitely,” Pete agreed. “We can watch _Into the Woods_ and pretend we have any idea what else is going on in that movie besides him taking his shirt off.”

The other man laughed. “It’s a date.”

And as Patrick apologized again, telling Pete that he’d love to stay and chat but he _really_ couldn’t be any later than he already was because he had to let his own employees into the shop, let alone his customers, Pete was hit with a rush of various different emotions. He was still sad about Mikey and he was uncertain about his future, but the strongest thing he felt in that moment was hope. Only ten minutes ago, it had felt like his world was crashing down and now…now he felt like maybe everything would be okay after all.

Just as Pete made to turn on his way, he heard Patrick call to him, “You’re not a serial killer, right?”

Looking up, Pete could see that Patrick had stopped again as though he simply _had_ to ask the question before continuing with his day. Pete laughed as he responded, “Only Monday, Wednesday and Friday! It’s Tuesday so you’re safe!”

“Okay, good!” And Pete just stood in place and watched, anticipation running through his veins, as Patrick finally disappeared into the crowd.

Pete’s morning began like usual.

But it seemed like fate had others plans for him.

**Author's Note:**

> The title is a quote from _Just My Luck_ because I was struggling with a title and then I thought, hey, since I already got them raving about Chris Pine in that movie (and in general), might as well use it for a title.
> 
> Follow me on social media! I'm **padawanryan** on [Tumblr](https://padawanryan.tumblr.com/), [Twitter](https://twitter.com/PadawanRyan), and [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/padawanryan/). ✌️


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